Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Patrick deserving? Hall, no

- — George Diaz

Is Danica Patrick a NASCAR Hall of Famer?

We’ll pause while you spit out your coffee.

Steven Cole Smith of motorsport.com recently wrote a piece titled, “Why Danica Patrick will make the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” suggesting she indeed belongs.

No need to dissect the piece word by word, but this key paragraph destroys his premise:

“And while she may not yet have compiled sheer statistics that would send her to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the fact is that she has been the first female driver to prove that a woman — particular­ly a woman that isn’t built like a roller-derby jammer — can survive season after season in what has always been, and still is, a man’s sport.”

Maybe he never heard of Janet Guthrie. She was the first woman to qualify for and compete in the Indianapol­is 500 and Daytona 500. Patrick was the second. So she didn’t break any barriers.

Guthrie also wasn’t built like a roller-derby jammer, a degrading cheap shot at women. Male or female, one doesn’t have to be built like a roller-derby jammer to compete in NASCAR.

And Patrick has survived “season after season” because she is a marketing queen and because she competes for one of the superpower­s in the sport, Stewart-Haas Racing, which provides her with the best equipment, technical support and resources possible.

Patrick has been great for NASCAR. She has brought younger fans to the sport, many of them female. And she is finally showing signs of competitiv­e consistenc­y, ranking 19th in the standings.

But the Hall of Fame is about excellence in the sport, not a participat­ion medal. Wendell Scott, inducted this year, is a notable exception.

His struggle was about exclusion of blacks, dealing with inferior equipment and a working environmen­t that once refused to acknowledg­e he won a race.

Which, by the way, Patrick has yet to accomplish.

Flag flap: NASCAR officials split the difference on the strong pushback against South Carolina flying the Confederat­e flag on its state- house grounds. A day after Walmart said it would no longer sell Confederat­e-flag merchandis­e at its stores nationwide, NASCAR issued a release supporting the movement to take down the flag but stopped short of disallowin­g fans to fly it during race weekends.

“NASCAR supports the position that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took on the Confederat­e flag on Monday,” the statement read. “As our industry works collective­ly to ensure that all fans are welcome at our races, NASCAR will continue our longstandi­ng policy to disallow the use of the Confederat­e flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity.

“While NASCAR recognizes that freedom of expression is an inherent right of all citizens, we will continue to strive for an inclusive environmen­t at our events.”

Internatio­nal Speedway Corp., which owns 12 Sprint Cup tracks, including Daytona Internatio­nal Speedway, does not allow the sale of merchandis­e that includes the Confederat­e flag.

 ?? NICK WASS/AP ?? Danica Patrick has had a positive impact on NASCAR but hasn’t broken any barriers — or won any races.
NICK WASS/AP Danica Patrick has had a positive impact on NASCAR but hasn’t broken any barriers — or won any races.

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